walldan
Well Known Member
I am hopeful some VAF members with more knowledge then I have can shed some light. To give you a bit of my background, I am a young (30's), mechanical engineer who now works in medical research, specifically with bioinformatics (not electronic devices).
Over the last 30 years we have seen an amazing shift from mechanical devices to electric and computer based devices. As I sit in my kitchen the old rotary phone I grew up with is no longer attached to the wall, my wrist watch no longer "ticks", my TV no longer has a physical on/off button I pull out.....
Nowhere is this change more evident than in consumer transportation. My first car was a 1980's GM Suburban. The electrical system was basic and as a teenager I drove it with well over 250,000 miles on. The only reason we stopped driving it was because it rusted out.
More recently my wife and I have had a number of new cars. All of them with complicated electrical systems which basically use CPU's to control everything. Sadly the failure rate we are seeing is frustrating. My current pick up truck is still "new" by my standards but has numerous electrical components which no longer function. We gave up on my wife's SUV a few years back because we were tired of it constantly throwing up random codes for engine service (dealer suggested replacing the main computer... $$$$)
I has having a conversation with my manager, who is in charge of specifying and buying anything technology based for our organization and he made the comment, "when I buy something with a computer in it, I plan on replacing it in 5 years". This got me thinking about aviation.
I am a student pilot. The first plan I was training in was a 1970's Cessna 172. Much of the instrumentation was still factory (which was at the time almost 40 years old).
I am now finishing my lessons in a 162 skycatcher (don't judge... I am a sport pilot to do a medical record nightmare) with a single PFD.
There is no doubt in my mind the new all glass cockpits by Dynon, Garmin, MGL, and others improve safety, provide better information, and can make flying more comfortable. But this comes at a price. Now I don't want to open up a cost for steam vs glass debate... and for this post we can consider them equal.
My concern is longevity. As I read the posts here there are a examples where great technology (VP200) which is no longer being made (the company moved onto better products) is starting to fail and leaving those who chose to integrate them with a costly choice. Are we going to see the same thing with PFD's? I understand all of the big manufactures have great customer support and are quick to resolve issues for new units. But what happens when these units are 10 years old? Will they become disposable items which we upgrade like cell phones? (Being a bit snarky)
I would really like to know that the majority of the $20K+ I invest into a instrument panel will still be functioning in 10, 20, maybe 30 years from now. Or... do we need to start planning for avionics overhauls much like we do for engine overhauls? Should we push the industry to warranty products based on hours of service instead of years of installation? What would sound better to the typical pilot.. a 2 year warranty or a 250 Hour of use warranty?
Daniel
Over the last 30 years we have seen an amazing shift from mechanical devices to electric and computer based devices. As I sit in my kitchen the old rotary phone I grew up with is no longer attached to the wall, my wrist watch no longer "ticks", my TV no longer has a physical on/off button I pull out.....
Nowhere is this change more evident than in consumer transportation. My first car was a 1980's GM Suburban. The electrical system was basic and as a teenager I drove it with well over 250,000 miles on. The only reason we stopped driving it was because it rusted out.
More recently my wife and I have had a number of new cars. All of them with complicated electrical systems which basically use CPU's to control everything. Sadly the failure rate we are seeing is frustrating. My current pick up truck is still "new" by my standards but has numerous electrical components which no longer function. We gave up on my wife's SUV a few years back because we were tired of it constantly throwing up random codes for engine service (dealer suggested replacing the main computer... $$$$)
I has having a conversation with my manager, who is in charge of specifying and buying anything technology based for our organization and he made the comment, "when I buy something with a computer in it, I plan on replacing it in 5 years". This got me thinking about aviation.
I am a student pilot. The first plan I was training in was a 1970's Cessna 172. Much of the instrumentation was still factory (which was at the time almost 40 years old).
I am now finishing my lessons in a 162 skycatcher (don't judge... I am a sport pilot to do a medical record nightmare) with a single PFD.
There is no doubt in my mind the new all glass cockpits by Dynon, Garmin, MGL, and others improve safety, provide better information, and can make flying more comfortable. But this comes at a price. Now I don't want to open up a cost for steam vs glass debate... and for this post we can consider them equal.
My concern is longevity. As I read the posts here there are a examples where great technology (VP200) which is no longer being made (the company moved onto better products) is starting to fail and leaving those who chose to integrate them with a costly choice. Are we going to see the same thing with PFD's? I understand all of the big manufactures have great customer support and are quick to resolve issues for new units. But what happens when these units are 10 years old? Will they become disposable items which we upgrade like cell phones? (Being a bit snarky)
I would really like to know that the majority of the $20K+ I invest into a instrument panel will still be functioning in 10, 20, maybe 30 years from now. Or... do we need to start planning for avionics overhauls much like we do for engine overhauls? Should we push the industry to warranty products based on hours of service instead of years of installation? What would sound better to the typical pilot.. a 2 year warranty or a 250 Hour of use warranty?
Daniel